


Some Love, A Little Angst -- Three Ficlets

by Severina



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Community: lands_of_magic, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-04
Updated: 2015-07-04
Packaged: 2018-04-07 15:46:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4269075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Severina/pseuds/Severina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Three ficlets:  Rumple/Belle post season four, and Belle in Seasons One and Two.  300 words each.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Some Love, A Little Angst -- Three Ficlets

**Author's Note:**

> Written for LJ's lands_of_magic community for the following prompts: around the world, photo of foggy woods at night, and strangers.
> 
> * * *

Around The World  
by Severina

"I meant it, you know."

Belle looked up from her magazine, then down again when Rumple tapped a long finger against the article that she'd been skimming. The glossy photo showed Paris by night, bright lights along a boulevard with happy couples sipping wine at candlelit café tables.

She bit her lip, tried not to think about the heavy suitcase that she'd had to unpack a few months prior, or the way she'd barely been able to see the clothes she'd replaced in her wardrobe through the tears that wouldn't stop falling. 

Things were different now. They would be different even if the dark stain on his heart hadn't fled, because now he was willing to believe that the love she had for him was true. Now he pulled her into his arms not just to love her, but to share with her – his fears, his dreams, the sins of his past, some of which he regretted and some of which he did not. And if sometimes they made her shudder she would rather that than silence and secrecy.

She did not lie when she said she loved him, even the dark parts.

"One day the pall that covers this town will be lifted, and we'll be able to leave. We can travel wherever you like. Paris, Milan, Athens. You can shop at the finest establishments, eat at renowned restaurants. See Big Ben, the Great Wall, whatever you wish." He leaned back in his chair. "I want to show you the world, Belle."

She lifted her gaze then, grinned impishly at him. "I hear there's a town in Minnesota that boasts the world's largest ball of twine." 

"Belle."

"You _did_ say wherever I wanted."

He raised her hand to his lips. "For you," he murmured, "I will even endure Minnesota."

**

02\. **Prompt: photo of foggy woods at night**  
Belle, Season One. 300 words.

Foggy Night  
by Severina

Run.

Belle darted through the trees, the omnipresent fog pressing in on all sides; dashed through brambles unseen until the last moment, leaving her arms scratched and ripping a gash in the bodice of her dress. She fell against a tree, gasping, her side a mass of rippling pain. Rough bark beneath her palms, her breath loud in her ears. And behind her on the path she could hear the queen's carriage, that evil witch's voice urging the horses to longer strides. 

She must run.

She crashed through the undergrowth, forded a stream that left her sodden and cold. Ran until each breath was a bellows and her legs could barely support her. Found herself on hands and knees when a downed tree appeared suddenly in front of her, previously hidden by the shifting fog. She lifted her head, shook her bedraggled hair from her eyes, and—

"Rumple!"

He was perched on a log, cross-legged. He looked up sharply at her call, his narrowed gaze transforming to one of longing and welcome when he saw her. His lips shaped her name.

She stumbled to her feet, body leaden, heart pounding in her chest. Lurched toward him. Close, then closer, until she could almost smell the straw and leather scent of him.

Her fingers trembled as she reached out, and—

Her love vanished, and the queen appeared in his place. Red lips, mocking laughter.

"You didn't think it would be that easy, did you dear?"

 

Belle woke to her hard pallet, to the thin blanket that protected her from the chill. She pulled the covering over her shoulders and turned her eyes to the window high in the tower; saw that the night sky was blanketed by a thick layer of fog.

And knew without looking that the queen was watching.

**

03\. **Prompt: strangers**  
Belle, Season Two. 300 words.

Strangers  
by Severina

They lay her on a hospital bed, attached a pressure cuff to her arm, shone a light in her eyes. The doctor murmured incomprehensible stats which the attending nurse dutifully scratched on the clipboard she held in her hands.

She endured it all warily, even as her mind raced. Even as she tried desperately to cast her mind back to beyond the point where she found herself collapsed on the wet pavement, searing pain in her shoulder, clutched in the arms of a man she didn't know… a man who then passed his hand over her body and healed her wound; a man whose face then twisted in a grimace as he lifted that same hand, now cupping a ball of fire…

She surged forward, struggling against the stranger's hands who pushed her back, held her down. Rough hands, bruising fingertips on her arms. Something fell from their cart and crashed to the floor, sending the sharp, astringent scent of ammonia into the air. The doctor's voice clipped out now, barking orders, but she was beyond understanding. Just knew she had to get out of this place.

She saw the nurse approaching with the needle, and abruptly gave up trying to push past the bodies that blocked her. Shrunk back into the pillow instead, curling in on herself, shaking her head. The doctor called her name – the name they had given her, this "Belle" – but she only huddled in on herself further, moaning, _no no no no no_ , something primal in her that feared the sting of the needle, loathed the oblivion that it would bring.

When they stretched out her arm she roused herself enough to offer resistance, but soon enough the needle found its mark. Her eyelids fluttered as she fought the drug.

And the strangers watched, unmoved.


End file.
